When in Sarasota

They have three different beach islands there and each one is really beautiful. It’s a good idea to visit all three and check them out. When I was there, the waves were not big at all, so it was easy for the kids to play in the water and have a good time.

Daily Photo – Sarasota Beach at Sunset

This is the scene at the Ritz-Carlton Beach Club at sunset. I was happy to find out the Sarasota location actually had two parts. The main hotel is about 5 minutes away in the center of the city, and then they have this satellite beach club. I thought it would be just like a few little tents on the beach, but it was a major production! Swimming pools, restaurants, bars, and everything you need for a proper beach getaway!

This was taken with the DJI Mavic Pro. It's a vertirama made from four different photos.

New Preset Pack for Movie Presets

We recently added some new presets for Lightroom to our store. Get them right here. They are very fun presets that are quite cinematic. There are a ton of examples in there and more in the video below.

Daily Photo – Waiting in Shibuya for the Lights to Change

I hung out in Shibuya crossing for about 2 hours in the rain. It was great! There were so many cool outfits and interesting umbrellas to see. It was almost information overload and I could not figure out where to look next. The pauses were when people would stop at the intersection while waiting on the crosswalk. It was a lot less chaotic and it gave me a chance to find interesting subjects like this gal. I have since sent her the photo and she loves it!

Today I’ll share a nice little assortment of Antarctica photos for you! Do you know I still have hundreds and hundreds of unprocessed photos? Yes, I guess this is a good problem to have. I gotta get on that.

If you’re a Passport Member then today you see the bonus section of this blog post at the bottom and you’ll see the fifth Antarctica video we have put out.

Exclusive content for Passport members

Time for new Studio Art!

Every three months I swap out the art in my office to account for the new season. Now it’s Autumn, so my theme will be red. I have about 11 works I hang around the studio to keep the mood fresh! They are not for sale or anything… just for the enjoyment of me and whoever happens to stop by.

Daily Photo – Rocket Man at Night

While at the Grand Cayman Cookout, during the Beach Bash, things got crazy as soon as this guy showed up at the beach. Wow, this was really hard to photograph, so I am glad I put on the 50mm F/0.5 to capture this… This is the same lens I showed off two days ago with the photo of Tane the Tiger!

If you have an Android phone…

I highly recommend the new Bose Quietcomfort earphones. They are on my Kit.com and you can see more about them. The best thing about them is there is a button on the left ear that lets you talk to your Google Assistant. You can answer emails, send texts, call a sushi restaurant, etc. It’s really amazing. Another great thing about it is the Bluetooth. I can’t tell you how much trouble I have with Bluetooth! With this, it works great. And, SOMEHOW, it can connect to two Bluetooth devices at the same time.

Daily Photo – Tane's Brother Nemo at F/.24 Alcohol Content

Remember yesterday's photo of my assistant Tane? Well, this is his younger brother Nemo! He happened to be in Tokyo while Ethan and I were there. We met him down here at Golden Gai (the bar area with about 50 bars that only hold 6-10 people each) and we all started doing a lot of drinking together. Nemo perhaps more than us. He asked me to take his photo outside and then took off his shirt for effect. You can't quite tell in this photo, but this is the middle of winter and it was freezing!

British Sports

Even though I’ve lived in the semi-British world here in New Zealand for the past 6 years, I am still flummoxed by British sports. Here is how I feel when watching almost any of their sports.

Daily Photo – Tane at F/0.95

Tane looks cute at any F-Stop, so he's probably not an ideal person for testing this camera. If you can possibly avert your eyes, look at the background. I know, it's tough, but do it for the sake of lens testing. Look at that amazing blurry area back there. In fact, if you look at his ears, even they are out of focus.

It's a great lens for sure. It's all manual focus, and I have put the lens up here on my Kit.com page.

In the middle of an Asia Tour!

Right now, I’m going from Shenzhen over to Hong Kong for a few days. After that, off to Macau, Sanya, Koh Sumui, Kuala Lumpur, and Langkawi. It’s a long time on the road, but I couldn’t be more excited!

My Favorite Writing Tool

I’m actually pretty good at focusing when I need to. But, hey, we could all use a little more help, eh? When I am writing, I sometimes get distracted by other things on the screen. Notifications that slide in or just colorful things on the edge of the window. Anyway, I found this great tool called Ommwriter. It blanks out the whole screen and allows you to write uninterrupted. Here’s a little video I made for you!

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Daily Photo – Swimming with the Stingrays!

What a great day out here in the shallows inside the lagoon of Grand Cayman Island. This is another photo I took with the Mavic! This thing is rock solid in the daytime and with a bit of wind. I will tell you that landing on the catamaran was Very Difficult. I've landed on lots of boats, and each time it takes 200% of my concentration!

The Phantom series of quads are much easier to catch because they have more pronounced legs. So, it's easier for a friend (or yourself with one hand) to reach up and grab it. With the Mavic, you only have about half a finger's worth of room before you hit the blades.

Spotify Playlists

I have a bunch of different Spotify Playlists, but one of my favorites is Feelin’ Groovesalad. It’s one of my most active ones that I add to the most… Right now it has over 200 songs and I add about 5 more cool finds a week. Enjoy!

Daily Photo – A Dreamy Day in Glenorchy

Every time I make a trip to Glenorchy I come away with a winner photo or two. The whole place is so photogenic! I should be driving over there once a week or something. Actually, I'm home for a little six-week stint now before a SE Asia trip, so I'm going to set aside more time to visit some old favorite haunts and get some photos! I've been pretty busy organizing all my photos and preparing some unique content for Passport members, but most of that is finished now so I can take more photos.

Funny video I saw on Reddit

Well I see a ton of funny stuff on there… but I subscribe to the introvert subreddit and saw this video about Introverts vs. Extroverts. Pretty funny and true I think!

Daily Photo – Sunbathing in Budapest

Haha I don't even know why I took this picture but I do find it amusing. One thing this photo does not get across is that this woman stood there for 30 minutes in the exact same position. I was having a walk around the city by myself on the last day there, and I saw this lady down by the water. I thought it strange and somewhat amusing… and then I doubled back about half an hour later, and she was still there! So then, I thought, well now I gotta take a photo.

Another fun how-to Passport Day!

If you are a Passport Member today we have a making-of video for today’s photo. I woke up on Saturday here at home in Queenstown, New Zealand to see some beautiful and moody clouds through the valley. So I got up the drone to take some photos. After I sat down, I decided to record the making-of video for you.

Here I show I took three photos, stitched them together, then ran them through Aurora HDR 2018.

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Daily Photo – A Moody Day in Central Otago

I don't exactly understand the weather conditions that make this happen a few times a year, but I think it's pretty cool. This was taken on the last day of summer this year here in Queenstown (a few weeks ago), and as the seasons change, sometimes the weather gets a little funky like this!